A representative form of democracy as compared to a direct form of democracy would most likely be described as indirect and potentially more efficient. A representative democracy is indirect because citizens themselves do not vote directly on issues, but instead elect representatives to govern for them and to make decisions on issues related to governing. A representative system could potentially also be more efficient because representatives would have the freedom and ability to legislate on major issues themselves without involving the entire public in a direct vote. However, the opposite could be true in that representatives could be highly inefficient and a direct system could be more efficient.
